1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an indoor environment design system and an indoor environment design method for designing an environment in a room for radio communication and to an indoor environment evaluation system and an indoor environment evaluation method for evaluating an environment in a room for radio communication.
2. Related Background Art
In the information-oriented society in these days, preparation of telecommunication infrastructure such as LAN is essential matter for designing indoor environments in offices and the like. Among others, wireless LAN using the radio communication is drawing attention recently for the reasons of capability of greatly reducing wiring in office, relative easiness of movement and addition of terminal unit, and so on. In conjunction therewith, there are increasing needs for design of indoor environment for radio communication.
As a technique of designing an indoor environment for radio communication, there is a method of actually constructing a model of an indoor space intended to implement radio communication (a building model) by architecture CAD, performing an electromagnetic wave (EM) propagation property simulation (three-dimensional ray tracing) in the model of indoor space thus constructed, and designing an indoor environment for radio communication, based on the result of the simulation.
However, the indoor environment design method according to the above prior art had the problem discussed below. Namely, according to the indoor environment design of the foregoing prior art, the model of indoor space for radio communication is actually constructed using the architecture CAD, the EM propagation property simulation is performed in the model of indoor space thus constructed, and the indoor environment for radio communication is designed based on the result of the simulation. Accordingly, every time another indoor space actually intended to effect radio communication has a different state (size or the like), another indoor space model has to be constructed for that space by architecture CAD and the EM propagation property simulation has to be performed in the indoor space model thus constructed. Therefore, an extremely long time becomes necessary for design of an indoor environment.
On the other hand, at sites of actual business discussions and the like to present designs, proposals, etc. of indoor environment, it is not always necessary to provide the result of detailed EM propagation property simulation for each indoor space to be designed and it is rather often important to speedily design an indoor environment achieving a desired communication quality. It is also important similarly to speedily evaluate an environment in a designed room.
The present invention has been accomplished to solve the above problem and it is thus an object of the present invention to provide an indoor environment design system and an indoor environment design method that can speedily design an environment in a room for radio communication and to provide an indoor environment evaluation system and an indoor environment evaluation method that can speedily evaluate an environment in a room for radio communication.
For accomplishing the above object, an indoor environment design system of the present invention is an indoor environment design system for designing an environment in a room for radio communication, which comprises: target communication quality input means for inputting a target communication quality of the radio communication in the room; first signal propagation property calculation means for calculating a signal propagation property in the room for implementation of the target communication quality, based on the target communication quality inputted by the target communication quality input means; first signal propagation property conversion means for converting the signal propagation property in the room calculated by the first signal propagation property calculation means, to a signal propagation property in a laboratory of a specific size; and indoor environment design means for designing the environment in the room, based on the signal propagation property in the laboratory converted by the first signal propagation property conversion means and on a relation between signal propagation properties in the laboratory and environments in the laboratory for implementation of the signal propagation properties in the laboratory, which is preliminarily obtained experimentally.
An indoor environment design method of the present invention is an indoor environment design method of designing an environment in a room for radio communication, which comprises: a target communication quality input step of inputting a target communication quality of the radio communication in the room; a first signal propagation property calculation step of calculating a signal propagation property in the room for implementation of the target communication quality, based on the target communication quality inputted in the target communication quality input step; a first signal propagation property conversion step of converting the signal propagation property in the room calculated in the first signal propagation property calculation step, to a signal propagation property in a laboratory of a specific size; and an indoor environment design step of designing the environment in the room, based on the signal propagation property in the laboratory converted in the first signal propagation property conversion step and on a relation between signal propagation properties in the laboratory and environments in the laboratory for implementation of the signal propagation properties in the laboratory, which is preliminarily obtained experimentally.
The relation is preliminarily determined experimentally between signal propagation properties in the laboratory of the specific size and environments in the laboratory for implementation of the signal propagation properties in the laboratory, the signal propagation property in the room as a design object is converted to the signal propagation property in the laboratory, and the environment in the room is designed based on the signal propagation property thus converted and on the relation between signal propagation properties in the laboratory and environments in the laboratory for implementation of the signal propagation properties in the laboratory, which was preliminarily obtained experimentally as above; whereby, even for another indoor space having a different state (size or the like), there becomes no need for execution of an electromagnetic wave propagation property simulation every time for the indoor space. As a result, it becomes feasible to speedily design the environment in the room for radio communication.
For accomplishing the above object, an indoor environment evaluation system of the present invention is an indoor environment evaluation system for evaluating an environment in a room for radio communication, which comprises: indoor environment input means for inputting the environment in the room; second signal propagation property calculation means for calculating a signal propagation property in a laboratory of an environment corresponding to the environment in the room inputted by the indoor environment input means, based on a relation between environments in the laboratory of a specific size and signal propagation properties in the laboratory, which is preliminarily obtained experimentally; second signal propagation property conversion means for converting the signal propagation property in the laboratory calculated by the second signal propagation property calculation means, to a signal propagation property in the room; and indoor environment evaluation means for evaluating the environment in the room for the radio communication, based on the signal propagation property in the room converted by the second signal propagation property conversion means.
For accomplishing the above object, an indoor environment evaluation method of the present invention is an indoor environment evaluation method of evaluating an environment in a room for radio communication, which comprises: an indoor environment input step of inputting the environment in the room; a second signal propagation property calculation step of calculating a signal propagation property in a laboratory of an environment corresponding to the environment in the room inputted in the indoor environment input step, based on a relation between environments in the laboratory of a specific size and signal propagation properties in the laboratory, which is preliminarily obtained experimentally; a second signal propagation property conversion step of converting the signal propagation property in the laboratory calculated in the second signal propagation property calculation step, to a signal propagation property in the room; and an indoor environment evaluation step of evaluating the environment in the room for the radio communication, based on the signal propagation property in the room converted in the second signal propagation property conversion step.
The relation is preliminarily obtained experimentally between environments in the laboratory of the specific size and signal propagation properties in the laboratory, the signal propagation property in the laboratory of the environment corresponding to the environment in the room is calculated based on the relation between environments in the laboratory and signal propagation properties in the laboratory, the signal propagation property in the laboratory thus calculated is converted to the signal propagation property in the room, and the environment in the room for radio communication is evaluated based on the signal propagation property in the room thus converted; whereby, even for another indoor space having a different state (size or the like), there is no need for execution of an electromagnetic wave propagation property simulation every time for the indoor space. As a result, it becomes feasible to speedily evaluate the environment in the room for radio communication.
The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinbelow and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus are not to be considered as limiting the present invention.
Further scope of applicability of the present invention will become apparent from the detailed description given hereinafter. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the invention, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the spirit and scope of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.